SYRACUSE, N.Y. — With Onondaga County set to record a staggering, historic number of new COVID-19 positives for a single day Friday, many people who test positive are likely to have the Omicron variant of the virus. If you are fully vaccinated and boosted, how likely are you to be a spreader of COVID-19?

Dr. Stephen Thomas, the director of global health at SUNY Upstate Medical University, says it is believed those who are vaccinated have a lower risk of being infected, but it is not zero.

"If they do get infected, they have a lower risk of spreading it," Dr. Thomas said. "This is just another reason people should get vaccinated and boosted. This will reduce their likelihood of a bad outcome and it will reduce the likelihood they pass the virus on to someone else if they do get it," Dr. Thomas said.

One way to reduce the spread and the risk is to upgrade your mask in public spaces. It is time to ditch all cloth masks, Dr. Thomas says. They are now considered by medical professionals to be relics of the early months of the pandemic - and only about 10% protective.